Pietro Anastasi

Lore & Background

Anastasi was born in Catania, Sicily. During his career (1964–1982), he played for Massiminiana, Varese, Juventus, Internazionale and Ascoli. In Serie A, he played 338 matches and scored 105 goals (For Juventus, he played 205 games and scored 78 goals). Although he never won the Serie A Top Goalscorer award, he was the third highest goalscorer in the League on three occasions, during the 1968–69, 1969–70 and 1973–74 seasons.

He made his professional debut with Massiminiana di Catania in Serie D, showing promising goalscoring prowess during the 1965–66 season, in which he scored 18 goals. He was subsequently purchased by Varese in Serie B, the team with which he gained promotion to Serie A, scoring six goals in 37 matches, and making his Serie A debut in the 1967–68 season on 24 September 1967, against Fiorentina, at the age of nineteen. During his first season in Serie A, he scored an impressive 11 goals, three of which were scored in Varese's shocking 5–0 win over Juventus on 4 February 1968, a performance which enabled him to be called up to the Italy national side.

Due to his precocious performances, he was purchased by Juventus in 1968 for a world record of 650 million Lire at the time, and with the Turin club, he won three Serie A titles, also helping the club to the final of the last edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, in 1971, a tournament in which he was top scorer, with ten goals. Juventus were defeated by Leeds in the final, however. In 1974, Anastasi was named the club's captain. He currently holds the record for the most goals in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by a Juventus player (12), as well as the all-time record for goals in the Coppa Italia by a Juventus player (30).

Alongside Roberto Baggio, he is the joint tenth highest goal-scorer for Juventus in Serie A, with 78 goals, the joint fourth all-time Juventus goalscorer in European competitions, and the joint fifth all-time Juventus goalscorer in International competitions, with 22 goals. He is also the seventh-highest all-time goalscorer for the club in all competitions. With Juventus, he was also the top-scorer of the 1974–75 edition of the Coppa Italia, in which Juventus reached the second round, finishing second in their group, and missing the final by a single point. Anastasi also reached the final of the 1972–73 European Cup with Juventus, where they were defeated 1–0 by Ajax.

Reader's Guide

Anastasi is regarded as one of the best Italian strikers of his generation, as he was a fast, physical, hard-working, reliable, and agile forward, with good reactions. He was also a prolific, intelligent, instinctive, and opportunistic goalscorer, who was capable of making attacking runs to lose his markers and advance into more effective goalscoring positions, courtesy of his pace, power, movement off the ball, and positional sense inside the penalty area.

A diminutive player with a sturdy build, Anastasi usually played as a striker in the centre-forward position, like his idol, John Charles; however, he had a rather modern and unorthodox interpretation of this role, and did not function as a traditional number nine, who mainly operated inside the box. Indeed, in this role, although he was capable of playing with his back to goal, using his strength to hold up the ball and lay it off for teammates, he was also known for his mobility and link-up play, as well as his ability to make quick exchanges with his teammates, and create chances or provide assists for other players, which saw him essentially act as more of an attacking midfielder at times.

He also stood out for his dedication, bravery, fighting spirit, and generous team-play, as well as his unpredictable movement and high defensive work-rate off the ball, including his tendency to drift out wide, press opponents, or even track back into midfield in order to help win back possession. As such, he has been described as what as is known in Italian football jargon as a centravanti di manovra ("manouvering centre-forward", i.e. a centre-forward who participates in the build-up of attacking plays), a role which has retroactively been likened to a precursor of the "false 9" role in modern football.

Despite not having the best first touch, or being the most naturally creative, tactical, or skilful player, he was a talented player and a fast sprinter, who possessed excellent acceleration and anticipation, as well as good dribbling skills with either foot, which led the Italian journalist Cesare Lanza to compare him to Luigi Meroni; as such, he also played on the right wing on occasion, due to his flair, solid technique, and crossing ability, and he even had a tendency to drift onto the left flank when he was deployed as an out-and-out striker in order to create chances for his teammates.

Did You Know?

• He scored the second goal in the 2–0 replay victory over Yugoslavia to win Italy their first European title.
• He was joint top scorer of the 1971 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup with 10 goals, not the outright top scorer.
• His first professional club was Massiminiana (not Missiminiana).